Geodude Line/DPPt
Geodude is quite commonly found in Sinnoh. In Platinum, it can be found on Routes 206, 207, 210 and 214, and in Oreburgh Gate, Oreburgh Mine, Ruin Maniac Cave/Maniac Tunnel, Iron Island and Mt. Coronet. In Diamond and Pearl, Route 215 is added to this list. Its evolved form, Graveler, is also relatively common: in Diamond and Pearl, it can be found on the Routes 211, 214, 216 and 227, and in Valor Lakefront, Iron Island, Mt. Coronet, Victory Road and Stark Mountain. In Platinum, Graveler is even more common, being found on Routes 225 and 226 and Sendoff Spring that now also houses wild Graveler. Who doesn't remember Geodude, the lovely rock ball with arms from the first Generation? Most people will remember it as the Pokémon that fell to every single Grass- or Water-type ever... which was true. But Geodude has so much more potential. In typing, yes, Geodude and its evolutions will fall to Grass or Water, but they can also wall a lot of Fire-, Flying-, Normal-, Electric-, Bug-, Rock- or Poison-type Pokémon. If we look gameplay-wise, we see that Geodude didn't change a lot from Generation III to Generation IV. The physical/special split hardly affected Geodude, if even at all. The Geodude line can now learn two new moves, though, in the form of Rock Polish and Stone Edge. Other fun toys it got to play with are, again, the newly introduced TMs Stealth Rock and Gyro Ball. The line didn't gain much, but important to know is that they also didn't lose anything. Their most powerful moves in Generation III are still great in DPPt, like Earthquake and Rock Slide. Be wary if you want to catch them: Geodude and Graveler still pack SelfDestruct and Explosion. Important Matchups - Platinum = * Gym #1 - Roark (Oreburgh City, Rock-type): Roark's Pokémon simply can't hit Geodude. Their only ways to hurt you are through Stealth Rock, Onix's Screech, and Pursuit/Leer from Cranidos. Train Geodude to level 15 and get Magnitude to destroy every single one of his Pokémon. If you can't get to 15 due to your nuzlocke rules, no worries. Just don't use Geodude against Roark's Geodude and Onix. You can use it against Cranidos, though, since Rock Throw hits it for neutral damage, and there's no way for Cranidos to hit back hard, unless if it crits. * Mars (Valley Windworks): Zubat falls to Rock Throw, done. Watch out for its Toxic, though, since it will outspeed. Purugly is harder. It packs Faint Attack, which hits for neutral damage, and Purugly itself is pretty bulky. Pack a few Super Potions and you'll be fine, or switch out Geodude when it did enough damage to Purugly. * Gym #2 - Gardenia (Eterna City, Grass-type): No. Don't use Geodude here. Even if you have Graveler already. Just don't. One reason: Grass-types will one-shot every Rock/Ground-type ever. * Jupiter (Team Galactic Eterna Building): Time for your Geodude to shine here. Ironically, you shouldn't use it against her Zubat, ever. If you do, you'll see that it has Giga Drain in its arsenal. Combine that with Geodude's low Special Defense... yeah. Skuntank though. Night Slash cripples through teams, especially combined with Screech and Poison Gas. That's where Geodude comes in. Geodude can bulk at least one critical Night Slash, if it's not too underleveled, and hit back hard with the super effective Magnitude. If you don't get low rolls, this should be fairly easy, especially if you have it evolved to Graveler/Golem already. * Gym #3 - Fantina (Hearthome City, Ghost-type): Watch out for Duskull. It isn't all too threatening to Geodude, but Will-O-Wisp will cripple your physical damage. Future Sight will also hit hard. Haunter isn't too difficult, just really annoying due to Hypnosis and Confuse Ray. Get one or two clear shots with Rock Throw and it's over. Mismagius packs Magical Leaf, so don't even consider. * Rival (Hearthome City): Geodude can easily deal with the rival's Staravia, thanks to Rock Throw, and Ponyta is not a problem either. Monferno can be tricky due to Mach Punch, but normally Geodude should be able to manage it, especially if it evolved already. Prinplup, Grotle, Roselia and Buizel all pack special Grass- or Water-type moves, so don't even consider using Geodude against them. * Gym #4 - Maylene (Veilstone City, Fighting-type): Kind of tricky here. You should have evolved Geodude by this point, hopefully into Golem already. If not, then don't take the risk of using it. You'll need Golem's bulk, since all of Maylene's Pokémon have super effective physical moves. Meditite's bulk isn't too great, so one powerful Magnitude or Earthquake should take it down, while you are able to bulk Confusion or Drain Punch. Machoke shouldn't be all too threatening, considering its only attacking move that can hit Golem is Karate Chop. Watch the critical hits, though. Lucario is a lot more dangerous than its DP counterpart: it now has Force Palm, which will hit ridiculously hard. All of Lucario's moves are super effective, so it's highly recommended to not use Golem against it. Or at all. Fire-types will do a lot better against Lucario, and so will Flying-types against Meditite and Machoke. * Rival (Pastoria City): Same applies as to the previous rival battle, Graveler/Golem takes out Staravia, Ponyta and Monferno, but can't do anything against Grotle, Prinplup, Buizel or Roselia. * Gym #5 - Crasher Wake (Pastoria City, Water-type): Was it mentioned that you shouldn't use your Graveler or Golem against Water-types ever? Because you shouldn't. * Cyrus (Celestic Town): Sneasel's Ice Punch, Golbat's Confuse Ray and Murkrow's Night Shade are his only ways to hit Graveler/Golem. Rock Blast finishes the battle in three turns. * Rival (Canalave City): He's slightly harder this time. Staraptor and Rapidash will fall as quickly as ever, but that doesn't apply to Infernape anymore. It packs Brick Break now. Golem should be fine, but if you're unsure about your Graveler's Defense stat, then send out a Water- or Flying-type against it. Floatzel, Roserade, Torterra and Empoleon are as impossible as ever. The rival also has a Heracross now, but it has Brick Break on a fairly high Attack stat while you can't hit it super effectively, so don't bother with Graveler/Golem against it. * Gym #6 - Byron (Canalave City, Steel-type): At first sight, you'd say that using Graveler/Golem is a complete sweep against Byron, but be careful. His Magneton has Flash Cannon and will probably outspeed. A super effective special move isn't something Graveler/Golem likes. Steelix now packs Flash Cannon as well, and combined with its superb Defense stat, makes it hardly possible for Graveler/Golem to battle it. Bastiodon is as possible as ever, but make sure you can one-shot it! If not, then don't battle it, since it now has Metal Burst to send damage back to you! * Saturn (Lake Valor): Graveler/Golem eats Golbat for lunch, even if you get Toxic'd in the process. His Bronzor has Levitate, though, so don't try to battle it. Toxicroak is possible but risky, since if you don't one-shot it, Revenge hits back hard, and Mud Bomb could finish it. Take some healing items to be on the safe side. * Mars (Lake Verity): Golbat will still go down after one Rock-type attack, two at best, probably after using Toxic. If you plan on using Graveler/Golem against Purugly, take an Antidote with you. Bronzor isn't a possibility, due to, again, Levitate. Now, Purugly is a lot less threatening, and Graveler/Golem should be able to take it out without a problem. * Gym #7 - Candice (Snowpoint City, Ice-type): Move along, there's nothing to see here for your Graveler/Golem. It should be able to take out Sneasel fairly easily, but then there are Piloswine, who you can't hit super effectively and will strike back using Earthquake and Avalanche, Abomasnow, who carries the Grass-move Wood Hammer and Froslass, who uses powerful special attacks like Blizzard. Don't use it here. * Cyrus (Team Galactic HQ): Sneasel could try Ice Punch, but it wouldn't do much to Graveler/Golem, and Rock Slide or Rock Blast takes it out. For some reason, Crobat now knows Supersonic, where it used to know Confuse Ray, making it a lot easier to take it. Not that it wasn't easy at first. Honchkrow can hit you with Night Shade, which can't crit, so you can see clearly where to heal, if it's even necessary. Graveler/Golem's got this battle in the bag. * Saturn (Team Galactic HQ): For some reason, Saturn's Golbat doesn't have Toxic anymore, but Poison Fang instead. Huh. Just take it out. Bronzor still has Levitate, so it's a no-go. Toxicroak has swapped out Revenge for Brick Break, which will hit hard. Even more troublesome, you won't outspeed anymore. Golem should be able to take out Toxicroak, though. Graveler is more risky, but not impossible. * Mars and Jupiter (Spear Pillar, tag battle with rival): Both Bronzor have Levitate, rendering Graveler/Golem useless against them. Jupiter's Golbat still has that Giga Drain, making it a bad choice as well. As soon as these three Pokémon are defeated, Graveler/Golem can jump in safely, and wreck the other Golbat, Purugly and Skuntank, as they have nothing to take out the Rock/Ground-type, except for Purugly's Hypnosis, Golbat's Confuse Ray and Skuntank's Night Slash. Against Purugly and Skuntank, feel free to spam Earthquake, since it's only the rival you will be hitting, not one of your Pokémon. * Cyrus (Distortion World): More threatening than he was in DP. He starts out with Houndoom, which has both Will-O-Wisp and Dark Pulse to threaten your Graveler/Golem, so using yours here is discouraged. Honchkrow has Psychic, which won't hit hard at all. Taking it out isn't hard. Same applies to Crobat. It's annoying with Confuse Ray and Toxic, but it's nothing Graveler/Golem can't take. Gyarados is a Water-type with a Water-type move, Waterfall. So no. Weavile will hit hard with Ice Punch, so it's risky. Bring a Fighting-type for it instead. Oh yes, and put Stealth Rock up somewhere. Like all his team members are weak to it. * Giratina (Distortion World): No. Just no. Levitate negates your Earthquake, and even Stone Edge won't do as much as you'd want it to do. Besides, Ominous Wind hurts, especially if Giratina gets the boosts. * Gym #8 - Volkner (Sunyshore City, Electric-type): Thank you for finally using Electric-types, Volkner. His lead, Jolteon, has the super effective Iron Tail, which will hardly do damage to your Graveler/Golem, and Earthquake will take it out. Raichu is less fun, due to it having Focus Blast. Luxray boasts Ice Fang, which won't be too threatening for Graveler/Golem. And last but not least, Electivire can't hit Graveler/Golem at all. Easy win thanks to Earthquake. * Rival (Pokémon League): Graveler/Golem's usage suddenly dropped a lot against him. As expected, Empoleon, Torterra, Floatzel, Roserade and Heracross are still a bad idea, but Infernape has been added to the list now as well. It packs the special move Focus Blast, which gives off STAB and hits super effectively. Staraptor is a possibility, even though it now boasts the Fighting-move Close Combat and the Steel-type move Steel Wing. Graveler/Golem's bulk should be able to take it. Rapidash is annoying due to it having both Will-O-Wisp and Bounce. A well-timed Rock- or Ground-move should take it out, though. Then there's Snorlax, who normally shouldn't be a problem, but has Earthquake. Your own Earthquake should be more powerful than his, though. Graveler/Golem could deal with half his team, as long as you got those healing items, and as long as he doesn't have Infernape. * Elite Four Aaron (Pokémon League): He now leads with Yanmega, which is a bigger problem for Graveler/Golem. The special move Bug Buzz will hit hard. It shouldn't be a problem for Golem, but Graveler needs to watch out. Scizor is a big no, since it has Steel STAB. Heracross has Fighting STAB, same story. Vespiquen won't be able to do anything, so take it out quickly with a Rock-type move. Drapion isn't hard at all, thanks to Earthquake hitting it hard, and Ice Fang not doing a lot. You could try to get up Stealth Rock somewhere in the battle, but only Yanmega and Vespiquen are weak to it anymore, and with neither of them it'll matter, so it may not be worth it. * Elite Four Bertha (Pokémon League): Whiscash has Water, so no. You can't hit Gliscor and Hippowdon super effectively, but they can with Earthquake. Rhyperior's bulk is just too great, and Earthquake will hurt. The only thing a Golem can do against Bertha, not Graveler, only Golem, is battle her own Golem. This is very risky, and it's recommended to use Grass or Water against it instead. * Elite Four Flint (Pokémon League): Danger. His first Pokémon is Houndoom, which wouldn't be too hard if it wasn't for Dark Pulse. Watch out if you still have that Graveler. Flareon isn't a threat, except for its use of Will-O-Wisp, but that can easily be cured. Don't let Graveler/Golem stay in against Rapidash if the sun is up. It will use SolarBeam, and not take a turn to charge. If there is no sun up, then you can one-shot it with Rock Slide, Stone Edge or Earthquake with relative ease. Infernape isn't too troubling either, except it has Earthquake and Mach Punch. Golem should be fine, but Graveler, again, needs to watch out. Then, last but not least, Magmortar. If the sun is up, danger, SolarBeam! If there is no sun up, joy. Magmortar's only move to really hit Graveler/Golem is SolarBeam, so you can hit it while it's charging. If this didn't one-shot it, switch immediately. Also, get Stealth Rock up as soon as possible. Only Infernape isn't weak to it in his team. * Elite Four Lucian (Pokémon League, Psychic-type): One piece of advice: do not use Graveler/Golem. All of his Pokémon have the powerful STAB special move Psychic, which will deal massive damage. The only of his Pokémon who doesn't possess this move, is Gallade, and it hits hard with the Grass-type move Leaf Blade. No usage here. * Champion Cynthia (Pokémon League): Sorry to say that Graveler/Golem is useless in this battle. Milotic and Roserade are dangerous for obvious reasons, Garchomp is just too powerful, especially with the super effective Earthquake, Spiritomb's Special Attack is too high, and will shoot Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball at you. The only two Pokémon you could have considered would have been Lucario, but it has Aura Sphere, a powerful special Fighting-type move, so that's a no-no either, and Togekiss, which knows not only Aura Sphere, but Water Pulse as well. Sorry, Graveler/Golem. * Post-Game: Graveler/Golem keeps doing their job like they did previously. Don't send them out against anything Water or Grass, and keep them away from powerful special attackers. Then you should be fine. }} Moves The first moves a Geodude has Tackle and Defense Curl, which it gets from the start. They're nothing specially powerful or useful. At level 4, Geodude learns to use Mud Sport, a move that could be used to support, but seeing as Geodude takes out almost every Electric-type anyway, it has hardly any use. Geodude learns Rock Polish at level 8, which isn't all too useful, but can be used if you wish for your Geodude to be a fast sweeper later on. It's not recommended, though. At level 11, Geodude learns his first really notable move, meaning Rock Throw, which is really powerful for that part of the game. Soon after, at level 15, it learns Magnitude. Boasting these two moves, Geodude can be considered one of the most powerful early game Pokémon. At level 18, it learns SelfDestruct. Do not teach this move, or you must really hate your Geodude. Then, at level 22, the next Rock-type move comes, namely Rollout. This is a risky move, since it locks you in using it. It's not recommended to use it, especially since only three levels later, at 25, it learns Rock Blast, another great Rock-type move. Geodude evolves then, but you can choose to stop the evolutions and get Earthquake at level 29. If you evolve Geodude anyway, Graveler and Golem get the move at level 33. This move is ridiculously overpowered for this part of the game, and you will have fun destroying everything with it. At level 38, Graveler/Golem learns Explosion. Nope again. Then, at level 44, comes Double-Edge, a powerful Normal-type move, but not recommended to use unless your Graveler/Golem has Rock Head as their ability. Then, at level 49, comes the last of their level-up moves, the powerful Stone Edge. Together with Earthquake, Stone Edge is one of the line's most powerful moves, if it wasn't for the 80% accuracy drawback. The line doesn't use a lot of TMs, but there are some useful ones, though. Stealth Rock is received from Roark, and is very useful against trainers weak to the Rock-type. The Geodude line has the bulk to be able to use it. Rock Tomb is available right after Roark, and gives Geodude an even more powerful Rock-type move than Rock Throw, albeit only temporarily. After you get the Bicycle, you can get both the TM of Earthquake in the hidden part of Wayward Cave, but you shouldn't spend that TM on this Pokémon because your Geodude/Graveler/Golem will soon learn anyway, and Brick Break, which you can get in Ravaged Path. It's a little de-tour, and not really worth it in the long run, since a super effective Brick Break has the same power as a normally effective Earthquake. In Veilstone City, you can get TM Gyro Ball in the Game Corner, but yet again, it's not really worth it, since there's hardly anything your Graveler/Golem would hit with Gyro Ball rather than Earthquake or its Rock-type moves. The last useful TM can be found in Mt. Coronet, after you beat Byron. You'll need Strength if you're playing Platinum, but Rock Slide is definitely worth it. It's a little weaker than Stone Edge, but it's more accurate. In Platinum, you can get your Graveler/Golem to learn Sucker Punch, Fire Punch and ThunderPunch from the Tutor on Route 212. Fire Punch and ThunderPunch aren't really great, since again, Earthquake on normal effect is just as powerful as a super effective Fire Punch or ThunderPunch. Sucker Punch could be useful, though, should you ever need priority against something. And it has decent power as well. Still, you're better off spending your Shards on another Pokémon. In the postgame, you can have your Graveler/Golem learn Superpower in the Survival Area, but yet again, it's not really useful at this point. The recommended item to hold is an item that boosts Ground- or Rock-type attacks. An Earth Plate or Stone Plate are recommended, as are a Soft Sand or Hard Stone. In Victory Road, you could get Leftovers, but at that time, you won't really need it anymore. It is possible, though. The Quick Claw is also possible, and it's an early available item. Recommended moveset: Earthquake, Rock Slide / Stone Edge, Stealth Rock, Sucker Punch / Rock Polish Recommended Teammates * Grass-types: Grass-types help Graveler/Golem with its Water and Ground problem, while in return they aided with their Fire and Flying weaknesses. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Torterra, Roserade, Leafeon, Tangrowth * Flying-types: Flying-types take Ground, Grass, and Fighting easily for Graveler/Golem. In return, they get Electric and Rock coverage. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Staraptor, Crobat, Gyarados, Mothim, Drifblim, Mantine, Pelipper * Water-types: Water types help with opposing Water Pokemon, and also resist Ice and Steel type moves. Graveler/Golem blocks Electric for them, but also shares the Grass weakness. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Empoleon, Gyarados, Pelipper, Azumarill, Mantine, Vaporeon Other Geodude's stats Graveler's stats Golem's stats * What Nature do I want? If you're going for a bulky one with a lot of Defense, an Impish one would be the best. Graveler/Golem is never going to use its Special Attack. Another possibility is Relaxed, since it won't be outspeeding anyway. If you want a Graveler/Golem with more Attack, Adamant or Brave is the best. * Which Ability do I want? Seeing as Sturdy is pretty much useless in generation IV, Rock Head is the one. The only thing it will do is negate Double-Edge's recoil damage, though. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? You can choose to not evolve Geodude right off the bat to get it to learn Earthquake at level 29 instead of 33, and then evolve it. As for Graveler into Golem, as soon as possible. Their level-up moves are fully the same, so there's no drawback in the evolution. As for where Graveler is starting to get outclassed and you need Golem, around Iron Island, Byron, the late 30s, early 40s. * How good is the Geodude line in a nuzlocke? Good. It's a great team player, being able to take out threats that most other Pokémon can't. Notable examples are Jupiter's Skuntank in Eterna City, and three of Volkner's four Pokémon in all three games. Geodude and Graveler are also pretty common in to find, and they're easy to train. It has quite some bad weaknesses, but that's nothing a good team can't fix. Of course, a horrible Speed stat and ludicrously low special stats make it a lot less useful. But overall, it's quite easy to see which are threats to it, and which are not, so it's not to hard to keep it alive either. * Weaknesses: Ground, Steel, Ice, Fighting, Grass (x4), Water (x4) * Resistances: Flying, Normal, Fire, Rock, Poison (x0.25) * Immunities: Electric * Neutralities: Ghost, Bug, Dark, Psychic, Dragon Category:Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses